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Ahhh, Salary Cap Room

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Go ahead and assemble that free-agent wish list, Chiefs fans. Dream big, because salary-cap room wonít be a problem.
And with new coach Todd Haley finally in the fold, he and general manager Scott Pioli can go to town.
A quarterback like New Englandís Matt Cassel? Pioli knows about him firsthand.
A linebacker like Arizonaís Karlos Dansby? Haley watched him in practice every day of the season.
The Chiefs would be able to sign both those players and then some like Carolinaís pass-rusher Julius Peppers. Research by The Kansas City Star shows the Chiefs have salary-cap commitments of about $85.6 million, or about $37 million less than the projected NFL limit of $123 million.
The Chiefs could clear plenty more cap room without much pain. Patrick Surtain, the fourth cornerback, has the teamís highest salary-cap figure at almost $9.8 million. A playerís cost against the salary cap includes a playerís base salary plus various bonuses.
Releasing Surtain, who is due a $7 million salary, would save the Chiefs an additional $3.8 million against their cap.
Two other aging veterans who also may not figure in to Kansas Cityís plans, linebacker Donnie Edwards and quarterback Damon Huard, are also among the Chiefsí highest-paid players.
The Chiefs donít have many prospective free agents of their own. Nine of their players donít have a 2009 contract, and the only one the Chiefs would probably view as urgent to retain is safety Jarrad Page.
Page would be a restricted free agent, giving the Chiefs the right to match any offer he would receive as long as they offer him a one-year contract.
The Chiefs might also view backup safety Jon McGraw, a potential unrestricted free agent, as a valuable player because of his special-teams skills. McGraw in 2008 concluded a two-year contract that paid him $645,000 last season.

and none of those backs are stuck behind our line, few would fare much better with no running lanes or having to break three tackles just to get back to the line of scrimmage. willie parker was totaly ineffective in the super bowl cause he had nowhere to run. i won't argue that we should get rid of him or that he is a bonehead for his offield crap or when he opens his mouth, but don't sell him short as still a viable runner. this is the guy herm tried to permantly send to rehab w/record setting #of carries against defenses w/9man fronts, yet he endured. he led both teams in rushing in 7 of 16 games this year, impressive when you look at our O line and consider our defense couldn't stop granpappy amos mccoy from gaining 100yds. i think its easy when we dislike a player so much to let it overshadow our perception of their ability.

and none of those backs are stuck behind our line, few would fare much better with no running lanes or having to break three tackles just to get back to the line of scrimmage. willie parker was totaly ineffective in the super bowl cause he had nowhere to run. i won't argue that we should get rid of him or that he is a bonehead for his offield crap or when he opens his mouth, but don't sell him short as still a viable runner. this is the guy herm tried to permantly send to rehab w/record setting #of carries against defenses w/9man fronts, yet he endured. he led both teams in rushing in 7 of 16 games this year, impressive when you look at our O line and consider our defense couldn't stop granpappy amos mccoy from gaining 100yds. i think its easy when we dislike a player so much to let it overshadow our perception of their ability.

LJ is not the RB he was pre-416 carry season, history tells us that. So we can't take into account what LJ used to be for assessing his current ability.

The 7 of 16 games stat is misleading for me. How many of those teams employ a committee at RB? If LJ gets 25 carries, and the other RBs get 10-15, I would hope he leads both teams.

LJ's rushing stats don't look bad at first glance, but here's the thing. He tied a career high in fumbles, despite only playing 12 games. He caught a career low 12 catches. He was as bad as ever in pass protection. He got himself suspended, and may be suspended to start next season as well. He's a poor teammate and he's immature.

If we cut LJ, a team will sign him, no question. But that would be our gain and their loss. He's going to turn the magical RB age of 30 next season and has a 416 carry season behind him.

The Rams OL is no worse than ours and S-Jax had a 1000 yard season in 12 games with 40 catches, while also missing most of training camp and pre-season holding out. The OL is most of the equation in the running game, but a great RB will find ways to perform regardless.

Dave you are a kindred spirit, thats exactly what i have been saying. BTW do you remember them as the Dallas Texans?

No not really before they moved to KC I did not know or rather care anything about the NFL. I was in born and raised in KC until I got drafted in '68 then Uncle Sam took me away for a few years but I went back to KC until my job brought me here to Dallas area.

so let me get this straight , you're saying no matter how bad an offensive line is a "good: running back will still get 1,000 plus yards?

1000 yards is an arbitrary number for me. But yes, a great RB can scrap together a good game on the stat sheet, protect his QB, and catch the ball. A great RB is capable of doing everything, not just grabbing the ball and running.

Great RBs don't get arrested 4 times for assaulting women and cause their team to constantly worry if they'll have their RB on the field Sunday. They also don't seemingly fall down at the line of scrimmage if there's no hole, or look like they're giving a half-assed effort all the time.

From a pure running the ball perspective, LJ is pretty good. But in every other category, he's terrible.

Look how many times Barry Sanders had 1,000 yard seasons with almost no support whatsoever. Curtis Martin probably wouldn't be considered by most to be one of the greatest backs ever but he's the only person to rush for more consecutive 1,000 yard seasons than Sanders. Martin didn't always have great support around him, either (he did play for Herm, after all).

both of those lines were better than ours, barry is in a class with the greatest runners of all time. he could lose yards on 5 plays then break a 60yd run., and curtis had games w/o blocking when he was ineffective

Dude. The Lions line... Hell, that whole TEAM was atrocious while Barry was there. I wouldn't label them better than anybody. And yes, Curtis did have some unproductive games but those were isolated incidents as his 11 consecutive 1,000 yard seasons says. I would much rather have a guy who has 1 bad game here or there behind an o-line that is bad or sub-par than an over-paid whiner who may have 2-4 good games out of the entire season.